WHEN: 1943 MAR 17; morning / early afternoon
WHERE: The Wilds
WHO: Lily and Kiernan
--
[11:11] Kiernan Rourke had left Lily a note. It had a time, described the statue and the willow tree in the forest, and a little doodle of a four-leaf clover. St. Paddy's was absolutely a good time for them to finally catch up on that picnic and Kiernan needed to both get away from the Academy and his dorm with Damir and to get absolutely sloshed. He was fast when he made his way there, zipping out of the transport to the mainland like a blur. He maybe, maybe might have taken some shiny things from the Technomancy college to offer up in the hopes of getting them some fae wine and they jingled in his pockets as he made his way toward the edge of the island closest to the waterfall.
[11:16] Lily O'Keefe was early, but she had less to do and was more willing than usual to skip a class after last night. When Kiernan arrived, she was standing there in the new uniform that had arrived in the mail - very like the one Kiernan had been delivered, honestly. In her hands was a black card edged with gold that she turned between her fingers to switch it between its dominant and reversed positions so the image changed. She felt Keirnan arrive when his boots touched the grass. Her magic was more raw, more open and the woods felt alive in a way that called to something deep in her soul. She turned with a smile, moving to tuck the card away. Her hair, too, was shorter. Instead of thick braids up wrapped in a crown, it was loosely braided, brushing her shoulderblades. Lily was still getting used to that. "Mornin! Well, more afternoon, isn't it. You doin' alright, Rourke?"
[11:21] Kiernan Rourke was taken aback for a second. Lily felt different, looked different and he didn't need Sight to get a feel for the weight of the changes. The... uniform, too, brought a quick flush of red to his face and he immediately looked somewhere above her left eyebrow. "Not... not really skirt n' white stockings sorta terrain ye know?" he remarked with a scrunch of his nose but the Irishman was grinning. He avoided the question about himself and instead tossed her a paper bag from the bakery in town. "Soda bread. Got ter soak up the hard stuff somehow."
[11:26] Lily O'Keefe glanced down at her legs and blushed briefly before giving a little shrug. "I didn't give it much thought. I don't usually play hooky, I guess, so rookie mistake?" Lily grinned then, showing the dimples in her cheek. She caught the bread handily, glancing down at it and brightening further. "Aw, I know its hard but I like it. Had it a lot growin up." Lily ambled over to the blanket to plop down, tucking her legs under her as she sat. "I went back in the water last night - with Novak an some others. He tell you about it?" Lily wanted to know as she looked up at Kiernan from her new spot on the ground. "I didn't bring anything. Should I have?"
[11:34] Kiernan Rourke went a liiiiittle bit redder when she mentioned Damir. "He didn't say fuck all," he said and took a few steps closer to bend down and pat her on the shoulders and turn her just a little bit, brows furrowed in focused intensity. He was looking at her legs, her arms - it was probably obvious enough he was checking for injuries. "Ye got ta be a bit daft ta go back in th'drink after what happened last time... but kinne really fault ye fer that. Dun look like ye got a chunk outta ye this time, so..." He patted her upper arms and stepped back, straightening. "Alright, well - Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig, O'Keefe! Hope yer ready to celebrate like a proper Irishman!"
[11:41] Lily O'Keefe shook her head slightly, still finding the lack of weight of hair odd when she moved her head. Lily lifted her hands up with another little grin to show that she was whole. "I didn't get hurt. Others did. It was... it was strange. Odette saved me from gettin' chomped in the water an then..." She reached up to touch the chopped ends of her hair, "I cut my braid off though, to trade for entrance. We saved the lady in the end and that counts for... something, I think. I dunno. I'm not sure, in the end, that I really had much of a choice." Lily shook it off, pushing the topic away to focus on happier things. "You've got corned beef an cabbage tucked away on you somewhere, then?" Lily teased knowing that was not what he meant. "I usually spend it in church, honestly, y'know tis a Saint's day. Though, back home, the coven is mostly gearing up for Ostara about now." The little sigh of wistfulness made it clear that at least part of her missed her family for all of her trouble fitting in.
[11:50] Kiernan Rourke had to roll his eyes at the idea of spending the day in church. "Ye know that whole goody God business' jus' gonna git ye losin' time worryin' 'bout things ye don't need ta worry 'bout," he said with a huff, shaking his head as she went on to discuss the rest of the ordeal. "Shite... wish I coulda been there but. Didn't know ye lot were takin' a dip." He patted at his jacket and his pants before making a face. "Well. No beef n' cabbage but I kin grab some quickly enough. Just figured we ought ta try fer the beverages first, otherwise I kin grab drinks TOO. Tryin' ta be efficient with it aye?" He tapped the side of his head. "Who was the lady? And .... if it means anythin', the hair looks good chopped up." He jingled his pockets. "Think I might have enough fer a bribe fer some wine."
[11:56] Lily O'Keefe looked up at Kiernan then, her brow creasing for a moment as she glanced around the glade, "I mean... bribe, who?" Lily did not partake in either enough rumors or enough alcohol to know about the trade for goods with the fae in the woods. Otherwise she might have more concerns about the nature of the wine. "I'm sorry. I did ask someone to let you know if I didn't come back, though, if that helps!" It probably didn't help. Lily's brow creased in confusion. "See, that's the funny part, there was this robed fortune teller that I thought was looking for her friend, you know, the one that gives the weird cards out? Anyway, she was lookin' for a friend an then, she died and we rescued her friend but her friend turned out to be.... her? The whole thing made my head hurt but magically, it felt good. Like, it felt like we did the right thing though I'm not exactly the most sensitive to such. So you gonna make water into the wine, Rourke?"
[12:13] Kiernan Rourke pulled all the various things out of his pockets - cogs and washers, little springs and Aetherite crystals meant to be placed as little batteries. He put them in his palm and poked through them. "She's a sprite or.... summat like that," he answered. "Ever since some awful shite started happenin' at the moonshine shack down that way she started usurpin' the distillery fer makin things. If ye git her somethin' nice n' shiny.... she'll give ye a bottle." Toe-ing carefully out of his boots and folding up his pantlegs to just below the knee with careful motions of one hand, he waded out into the water and across the pond to the rock wall that spanned one side of the waterfall. He knocked on it rhythmically, then set the trinkets on one of the ledges. "OY. I'M THIRSTY AN' I'D LIKE A DRINK!" he called out.
There were moments of quiet, just the rushing water around them unbroken by any response. When the sprite appeared she was small and slightly translucent, reflective like the water itself that pooled around them. She cooed and aaah'd over the little shinies he'd brought before looking up at him with a squint. "An' are people going to come searching these out here hm? Stolen goods?" she asked to which Kiernan shook his head. "Ain't no one gonna bother ye fer those. So gonna give me an' the lass a bottle or no?"
[12:23] Lily O'Keefe sat up, looping her arms over her legs to watch with lively interest, "Aw, what a pretty little thing," Lily murmured, watching the transaction with interest. "So do you have to bellow something specific to start the trade or will any expression of interest work? You know, in case I decide to become a forest wine addict later in life." Lily teased before shaking her head, "Honestly, I shouldn't joke. The things I keep seeing would drive most to seek oblivion in some form. I'm really tired of seeing bodies and having to sift through them. I should maybe look for a different job I jus... I DO like helping people. I just wish it didn't always feel like a day late an a dollar short."
[12:31] Kiernan Rourke made his trade, coming back with an unmarked bottle of liquid that sparkled obviously within the colored glass. There was a sense of familiarity between Kiernan and the forest sprite - and the forest in general, as if he were far more comfortable in the wilds than he tended to be in Academy walls. "I mean... when I first learned, it was bein' told ye ought to tell her, I'm THIRSTY an' I'd like a drink, specifically," he explained as he came back over. There was a brief shifting of his fingers to better grip the cork in the bottle that faded back to normal anatomy once he popped it open, raising it up to Lily. "Ye want first sip or want me ta make sure it ain't awful? Aine's usually got th'good stuff, just ta let ye know. And I'm no ADDICT, so dun go startin' with that." His expression softened a bit when she spoke of recent trials. The thought of all those bodies made him shudder. "...maybe ye ought ta switch jobs. Lots ye could be doin' ta help people that don't put ye right in the line o'shite, aye?"
[12:36] Bixia (gaia.chester) lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug, "But there's no one else even willing to try. It feels like I'm letting people down if I quit but also, what if I give so much there's none of ME left," Lily gave a little shake of her head and indicated with a wave of her hands for her to take a sip. "I think you have a few vices, Rourke, but I don't think the bottle is one of 'em. Would'na say such a thing to you." While Kiernan took the first pull, Lily reached down to the band of her skirt, pulling out the card that never seemed to fold or crease and held it out for him to take. "She gave me this. I mean, she gave one to all of us but this one is mine." Lily hadn't seen anyone else's cards, she'd been one of the first to take one but it did give Kiernan the information that Rourke now had a SECOND card in his possession. "Here, look. It's me isn't it?"
[12:44] Kiernan Rourke finally plopped down on the blanket near Lily, leaning over to take a peek at the card. "Well ye oughtta stop givin' so much that yer worryin' 'bout that," he said to her, brow furrowing as he looked the card over. He reached tentatively to pluck it from her fingers, reversing it and righting it to take a look at each image unless she stopped him from doing so - demonstrating he knew what the tarots did, or at least had seen one before. "....right feckin' is," he said, awestruck. Scooting and twisting a little, he held the card up next to Lily's face, glancing from it to her and back. "Ye know... there's supposed ta be some meanin' ta the other side. That... woman. I mean - YOU, I guess, yeah? With wings, the flowers... s'gotta be somethin', O'Keefe."
[12:49] Lily O'Keefe glanced at the card and the pale face that was regal and familiar but at the same time so strange and different, "I know," Lily said softly. "Maybe its allegorical, y'know. A visual metaphor? Of the kinda person I could be?" Lily wanted to know but they both knew her powers were strange and fell. "That's not me, though, Kiernan. THIS is me." Lily flipped the card back up to the smiling girl standing in front of a sunrise. It was familiar and safe and everything that Lily was so desperate to cling to. "If this isn't me, I dunno who I AM. I wanted to throw the bloody thing away, but I didn't. I couldn't." She shoved the card back at him and reached for the bottle instead. Maybe alcoholism was back on the table.
[13:01] Kiernan Rourke hummed as he took the card from her, giving up the bottle readily. He flipped it back over, observing the change and held up the reverse side next to Lily again, marking the very obvious similarities in facial structure, the notable features shared between the two. "...well, but look... it ain't NOT you. And ye got no clue where the greenery comes from when ye git randy, so... what's ta say yer coven didn't miss something? Or... HIDE something?" he argued, looking past the little square to watch Lily with the bottle. "OY, watch - slow down with that, yeah?" He said, reaching out to grab her arm. "Ye know the sorta person ye are. Yer helpful an' kind an' a pretty little pain in the arse. What's a secret sorta magical heritage gonna do ta change any o'that?"
[13:06] Lily O'Keefe gave up the bottle without a fuss, letting him take it from her fingers. She blinked once at Rourke, her nose a little pink already. Of course, the girl weighed nothing and was dinky to boot. There was zero chance that fae wine wasn't going to go straight to her head. "You... think I'm pretty?" Lily asked, as that's the part that snagged her attention first. She cut her gaze away, to the blossoms already starting to poke up just from that brief blush and begin plucking them like they were gifts offered from the green ground to start weaving them into a flower chain between her fingers. "I dunno, it just... It feels like more'n that, y'know? Like it's somethin' bigger - not really me - and I'm afraid that I'll vanish and it'll be something that takes my skin and stomps around in it? Like one'o those ol' changeling tales. It's dumb, yeah? It's just, me, right?" Lily huffed out a little breath, her fingers stilling in their restless plaiting for a moment, "I don't think my coven knew anything. They're rotten at keeping secrets an, well, my gifts don't ever match up with what they expect. I mean, yeah, we witch weather and plants and harvests but its not so wild. So feral. So primal. Its tending an cultivation an when I start to crack, it's like somethin' primordial. It sounds dumb when I say it out loud."
[13:17] Kiernan Rourke blinked at her. "Well... ye are, would hafta be a bit blind ta not see it," he replied. The Irishman took a big ol' swig. He could hold his liquor well enough and the magical sorta high endemic to THAT wine was the same sorta stuff that reddened his skin and made it shoot off embers; he was less susceptible, even as strong as it was. After licking his lips he shook his head. "Now... grain o'salt cause I don't know FUCK all... officially, yeah? But... there's all sorts o'magic, O'Keefe. An' I dun think yer... possessed by anythin' if that's what yer worried 'bout. Though -- I mean -- if ye wanted ta check, plenty o' those types at school what could take a look at ye right?" He slowed his roll a bit, having initially started rambling in response to her saying things sounded dumb. Kiernan reached out and poked her on the pink nosetip. "If ye ask me, primal's really the only way ye could describe magic that comes from feelin'... happy down below, ye know."
[13:22] Lily O'Keefe reached out ridiculously to cover his mouth with her hand, as she realized what the tail end of what he was saying. "We don't talk about my nethers. It's improper," Lily asserted primly, whether or not she managed to stifle his words. Her nose scrunched up. "I dunno, I just worry I'm'a crack like a walnut and it'll just be a discarded Lily chrysalis for whatever shiny thing takes my place." She glanced down at the flowers then, moving to pick up the daisy chain and finish working on it. "Which, I dunno, 'tis a silly fear and likely born out of seein' too many discarded bodyparts, too fast. D'you know not a week has gone by since I landed on Callisto that I haven't been dealing with at least one corpse. Usually more an half the time they're shambling around an trying to eat me. No wonder I'm having nightmares, I suppose."
[13:46] Kiernan Rourke made a face over her hand as it covered his mouth. She managed to stifle the worst of it but he was still grinning cheekily behind her hand, palpable in his cheeks as she touched his blushing face. It wasn't as if talk like this didn't also fluster the Irishman... but it was certainly something to focus on, and seeing what it did to Lily AND the aftereffects of what it did to Lily provided some clarity that grounded him. "Maybe ye oughta just crack and be done with it. 'Cause that's what it sounds like ye need, O'Keefe," he said, reaching up to gently tug her hand away from his mouth. "And ye know... less o'th'corpses. Take a break from the constables fer a bit. Can't be doin' ye any good."
[13:55] Lily O'Keefe scrunched her nose at Kiernan, leaving her hand tangled in his for the moment, trapped. "But *I* am doing good. I am helping people. I found the cave. I mean... almost got munched, but still! I don't know, maybe something smarter but I don't think that I have it in me to NOT try to make things better." Lily's lips turned down and the hand holding the daisy chain clenched for a moment. "There's so much darkness here, Rourke. So many shadows an not enough light. Someone's gotta bring the light, right? Maybe... Maybe that just IS who I am?" Lily glanced up at him for a moment, her expression firming and for a moment, those blue eyes flickered to a pure black spangled with stars before she blinked and it cleared back to her normal blue-green gaze, like a trick of the light or the mind.
[14:04] Kiernan Rourke kept hold of her hand, pulling on it a bit and flipping it palm-up. He did listen to her, for the record. He waited until she stopped, until he saw that flicker of pure black in her eyes. He squinted at her face, studying it and searching the blue-green pools for signs of what that might have been. Kiernan remembered enough of the first incident with the underwater corpse to remember what Lily looked like beneath the waves - the eyes, the skin, the luminescence. It was hard to forget. Letting go of her hand, he placed both of his on either side of her face, staring intently at her. "...do ye know what yer eyes did just then?" he asked. "When ye were talkin' about the light, an'... an' who ye are. What were ye feelin' just then?"
[14:08] Lily O'Keefe blinked very human blue eyes at Kiernan. "Ah..." Lily had no clue about the flash that had shown of her nature and it showed on her features. She scrunched the tip of her nose again. This close Kiernan could see the smattering of freckles, the slight knick on her jaw where she had the faintest of childhood scars. Everything about Lily screamed human. Until it didn't in those brief flashes. Dutifully, though, Lily turned her thoughts back to what he was asking, searching for the thread of emotion. Lily spent so much time warring between lust and shame and that internal conflict that she wasn't really used to tracking down other emotions. "...Determined? Purposeful. Like I was sayin' something I just knew was the right thing. Like, uhhh... y'know when you're called on in class an you don't think you know what t'say but you just have a moment of realization that you know this answer? Somethin' like that. Why, what did they look like?"
[14:16] Kiernan Rourke dropped his hands to her shoulders, then to her hips again. "Black. But... starry," he answered, keeping his eyes on her face. There were certain things that were hard to ignore, that close to a person. Her scent, her warmth - the way her skirt sat, the fact that she was in a skirt at all. Kiernan could see bits of freckled skin between her tights and the skirt hem in his periphery and that was entirely distracting - it emboldened him a little, especially knowing what being flustered and aroused did to Lily's magic. So it was part loss of control, part curiosity when he leaned in just a little bit closer. "Say it again then," he murmured, the pressure on her waist increasing as his grip tightened just a bit - enough to make it obvious he didn't want her to pull away but with enough give for her to do so.
[14:23] Bixia (gaia.chester): "It's who I am?" That lacked the conviction and even Lily could hear it in her voice. She let out a breath, closing her eyes for a moment. Though, once again, it made her focus on the hands tightening on her hips. Kiernan was always so warm; the palms of his hands hot through the fabric o her skirt, light as it was. The scent of her magic, when it rouse, roused by the promise of passion and flame and all that came with it, was less muffled than it was in the city. There was less to mask it as the sweet sent of chrysanthemums rose cut by the sharp, fresh air of a breeze cutting down off chilled mountains. Lily let a breath out and for just a moment stopped fighting. Aided by the heady wine coursing through her system. For just a moment, she let go of all the voices in her head. The voices that told her to feel shame and doubt and guilt. "It's who I am." Lily said, the words quiet and certain. She opened her gaze to look at Kiernan with eyes that looked like the night sky in the moments before dawn broke. "I bring the light. I bring the dawn." The moment the words passed her lips, Lily felt the rush of rightness fill her. Of finding a Truth before that clarity crumpled in on itself with the stirrings of doubt. "Well, that's arrogant as hell to believe, though, innit." And with that admission of doubt, the blue began to flicker back in her eyes.
[14:28] Kiernan Rourke was about to admonish her for the flimsy attempt before he saw her breathe and center herself and try again. Then he was nodding, quiet and attentive as he listened to her, watching her face and her eyes. The moment the pools of starry black appeared he grinned, wide. He looked proud - positively beaming until she started to fumble into that dip of doubt again. "Ey, ey no no - " he hushed, both hands moving to her face again. "Stop that, hang onto it. Ye had it, I could see it," he breathed, thumb pads running over the ridge of her cheekbones. "Shut up with the doubtin' and say it again." The proximity of their bodies warmed him, bringing the flicker of dancing flames to the surface of his skin.
[14:36] Lily O'Keefe pulled a face, "It feels absurd to say," Lily whispered. "Like puttin' on airs. I'm just a witch an a not very good one at that." As she asserted her humanity, the blue returned. Inside, the power that waited and tried - tried SO HARD - to tell Lily what she was could have howled in frustration if it had feelings. Still, rather than pull away and protest more, Lily swallowed her words and tried to find the little grain of truth. It was hard. It was so hard to push aside a lifetime of dogma, and of doubt and reach for it again but Lily had proven one thing; she was doggedly determined once she was pushed to action and Kiernan's firm instructions were an anchor to hold onto. "Can you... the flames. Can you pull them closer? It... I think it likes them," Lily muttered, forcing the shame away for the moment. Then she huffed out a breath and tried to find that edge of her magic. The one that she'd found when pushed past her limits before. The voice that she'd found insider herself to nudge everyone on, to push them towards a hopeless rescue. "I do though," Lily whispered. "That's the gift. It's why I don't quit the constables, cuz that's the person I am - the one I wanna be - the one who encourages. Who pushes people to be better, to rise again. The dawn, it means a lot of things. Renewal, an' life, an' light an that IS what I'm got at, isn't it?"
((cont'd in Discord))